Today, Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) voted for the LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act, H.R. 4176, to require federal surveys to include voluntary and confidential data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity.  The collected data would be subject to robust privacy and confidentiality standards. 

“As federal agencies conduct research and gather demographic data, it is important that the LGBTQI+ community be counted,” said Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher.  “I was glad to vote for this legislation to help ensure that we can better understand and serve the needs of the LGBTQI+ community in Houston and across our country.”

Congresswoman Fletcher is a co-sponsor of the Equality Act, H.R. 5, to protect members of the LGBTQI+ community from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.  In February, she voted for the Global Respect Act, H.R. 3485, to deny foreign individuals entry into the U.S. who have been found responsible for human rights violations against LGBTQI+ individuals.  

The LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act has been endorsed by more than 170 LGBTQI+ civil rights, public health, and scientific organizations, including: the Human Rights Campaign, the Center for American Progress, the American Psychological Association, interact: Advocates for Intersex Youth, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality, GLSEN, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Whitman-Walker Institute, the Consortium of Social Science Associations, the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and more.